By BRENDAN KELLY - Mad Men co-star Jessica Pare recently appeared on Radio-Canada talk show Tout le monde en parle, which does feature some anglophone guests, but they're typically visiting international music or movie stars. - French-language TV in Quebec is an almost entirely anglo-free zone. It's actually a little bit weird when you get to thinking about it.
Those of you who watch local French-language television, try to think of the last time you saw -and heard! -a real-live anglo Montrealer on your favourite drama, comedy or talk show. Exactly. It's pretty rare, with gusts up to unheard-of.
Sure, Sophie had a bloke as a boyfriend at one point on the popular Radio-Canada dramedy Les hauts et les bas de Sophie Paquin, and there have been secondary anglo characters elsewhere, notably on the long-running series L'Auberge du chien noir. The hot Radio-Canada Sunday night talk show Tout le monde en parle occasionally invites anglo guests -including Montreal actress and Mad Men co-star Jessica Pare a few weeks back -but it only features about six or seven English guests each season, and most are visiting international music or movie stars.
As far as I know, there's never been a locally produced series en francais that's accurately reflected life here in Montreal -a life where most every francophone comes into some kind of contact with us anglos.
These thoughts were prompted by the cool, tube-obsessed Artv show C'est juste de la TV, which devoted part of its edition this week to looking at anglos' ambivalent relationship with Quebecois television. (The show repeats Monday at 8:30 a.m. and 8 p.m. and again on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m.)
They invited me to take part in the debate and I was happy to plead our case, though I did start by telling the researcher that any discussion of anglos on franco TV chez nous might be a real short chat. As in, there are virtually none, which is kind of embarrassing, and, by the way, please don't turn me into the next Jacob Tierney.
Tierney, you may recall, created a downright nutty media firestorm last summer when the Montreal filmmaker dared to point out to a La Presse reporter that mainstream Quebecois cinema rarely showcases anglos or most any other non-white/non-franco group, for that matter. Bottom line is that Tierney was right. I've reviewed almost every major Quebec release from the past 15 years and those films -great as some of them are -reflect an oddly pure laine universe.
Tierney was roasted in franco circles, but few could actually mount much of an argument to refute his claims. Mostly the outrage seemed to stem from the fact that un anglais would dare to take such potshots at our distinct (and distinctly insular) society.
But the TV world ici might be even more white-bread. Last week in these pages, TVA host Isabelle Racicot talked of growing up in Montreal and not seeing "a lot of people that looked like me, meaning 'black,' on TV." We rather depressingly agreed that things haven't changed all that much in the years since.
English-Canadian TV may have a lot of problems -from low ratings to dull shows - but it's been wonderfully multi-ethnic for a few decades, in large part thanks to Moses Znaimer's pioneering hiring choices at Citytv and later MuchMusic.
So why are there so few anglos on Quebec TV? Maybe producers here are worried that a show featuring -for the sake of argument -an English dude from N.D.G. will turn off viewers outside Montreal who wouldn't be able to relate because they, in fact, do live in an all-franco universe.
The other problem is that bilingual does not work on TV. It can in cinema, as the mega-hit Bon Cop Bad Cop proved in hilarious, eloquent fashion, but that's because you can subtitle the other language on the big screen. Subtitles just don't cut it on the small screen for the very good reason that it's still a too-small screen (even in this world of giant flat-screens).
Don't get me wrong. The last thing I'd suggest is trying to strong-arm creative types here into including anglos and folks from other cultural communities in their shows using CRTC-style content regulations. That's a nightmarish hypothesis.
But couldn't someone come up with one good French-language prime-time drama or sitcom that featured a character who just happened to be English? For heaven's sake, even TV producers from the dreaded Rest of Canada (ROC) have a new series, the upcoming CBC laugher InSecurity, which stars our very own vedette Remy Girard playing a franco spy in Ottawa.
Hey, I have an idea. How about a smart, hip sitcom co-starring Jessica Pare and Marc-Andre Grondin as two struggling Montreal actors sharing a pad in Mile End?
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Brendan Kelly's coverage of Montreal's film and TV scene continues at his blog, at montrealgazette.com/showbiz